It takes two to tango and Boetsch certainly didn’t make it easy for Lombard to implement his usual bombastic game plan. Although Lombard tried swinging for the fences, searching for that explosive knockout that he’s known for, Boetsch kept his distance, using his reach advantage and lots of movement to stay out of Lombard’s power range.

“I was able to keep throwing those kicks and keep him at distance,” remarked Boetsch after the fight. “He didn’t land the big shots that he wanted to. I was able to frustrate him and I was able to not let him dictate the range.”

Still, Lombard seems to feel he fell flat, to one extent or another, in his Octagon debut.

“That wasn’t the real Hector,” he posted on Twitter on Monday, answering to fans and critiques alike.

UFC president Dana White concurred, saying maybe Lombard should consider dropping down a weight class. “Lombard maybe should fight at 170. He made 185 easily.”

As of right now, however, the Cuban born Australian doesn’t sound like he’s ready to contemplate such a move.

“I feel strong at 185. Just because I had a bad fight does not mean that I am going to drop to 170,” Lombard wrote on Twitter.

Regardless of what class he decides to fight in next, Lombard has some work to do. Being a former Bellator champion and Olympian, coupled with his amazing winning streak, there was a lot of hype surrounding his UFC debut.

That’s a lot of hype that now falls into the shadows and will have to be earned all over again.

“It’s the unfortunate thing about hype,” commented White after UFC 149. “When there’s a lot of hype behind you and you don’t live up to it, you go away real quick.”